Ever seen the signs on the back of a trailer on the side of the road, or attached to a pole at the traffic lights? The ones saying they will restore your roof for less than $2,000 and provide a ‘warranty’ their work? Notice there is no business name or website, just a mobile phone to contact… this is where the alarm bells should start to ring. Buyer Beware.
You will find there will be no answer and you are to leave a message. This (pre-paid) mobile number often changes to avoid the warranty calls (and council calls for advertising illegally). You might ask, how can they restore my roof for half the price as the other quotes? Simply put – no license and a lack of quality products and workmanship. They skim over with the cleaner, patch over any poor pointing and put on some cheap and nasty paint. Two coats if you’re lucky. You pay, they disappear.
If the restoration is below $3,300 the business is not required to have a QBCC licence. Another way that businesses can sidestep a bad reputation as there is no record and no leg for you to stand on when things go bad.
You can be the best roofer in all the land, but if your tools are old and worn so will be the result of the job. Roofing equipment that is powerful enough to correctly do the job is not cheap. A waterblaster cost upwards of $10,000+ and needs to regularly be serviced and maintained. This is the same with paint units. The painting tips are also a major factor in the correct application of your paint.
Cheaper paint and pointing is a great way for a roofing company to cut costs. It could save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars on each job! But at what cost to the customer? Poor quality products will simply not last in our harsh Queensland climates, no matter how well you use and apply them to your roof. You get what you pay for what it comes to product performance, and it certainly something worth investing your hard earned money in.
Not rebedding when required on a roof restoration will save the roofing company money on a days worth of labor and products. Unfortunately for the customer, although after being coated with a fresh coat of paint their roof will look great for the time being – their ridges will still need to be redbedded underneath. The ridge capping may hang in there for another year or so but once the water damage starts you will have to call a plasterer to fix your ceiling, along with another roofing company to fix what should have been taken care of in the first place.
Over time poor workmanship and cheap products (although they may look great to start) will break down. The roof colour will turn and the product may start to peel and lift from your roof surface. To correct this will cost you much more than your original quote. Removing poor quality bedding to re-do it correctly and going over your roof inch by inch with a turbo head to remove the peeling paint takes painstaking hours to carry out.
Ensure you look over reviews before choosing a company. This can easily be done by a quick Google search online. It is hard to hide a bad reputation these days. Please do your research and call a reputable company for your roofing needs.
There are a few things you need to look for to make sure you don’t get burnt when hiring a roofing company. You can read more information about how much a roof restoration costs in our blog post here.
Firstly check the company is licenced for both painting AND roofing. We have seen many roofs destroyed by painters as they just don’t have the roofing experience needed for a roof restoration. Also, make sure they have the correct insurances – public liability and Workcover.
Firstly all credible businesses will be registered by the QBCC. All jobs over $3,300 MUST have the QBCC Home Warranty Insurance included. The is required by law and hefty fines apply if the insurance is not added. Be careful of anyone who says you do not need the insurance or breaks up the job into smaller parts to avoid needing to add the insurance.
A standard roof restoration generally should cost between $3,000 – $6,000 depending on the size of the roof. Full re-bedding, sarking, reclipping, etc. may increase this price.
As mentioned, it is hard to hide a bad reputation online. Do a bit of ‘Googling’ and read some of the reviews. When investing a large amount of your hard earned cash into your home you want to make sure you are an informed customer.
We can assure you are in good hands here at Brisco Roofing. Our team are here to help you every step of your roof restoration and will happily and transparently answer any questions you may have at any stage. Ged, Brisco Roofing’s friendly owner, will meet with you in person and physically inspect your roof when providing you with your free roof restoration quote. We do not believe in any high pressure sales, rather educating our customer on what is happening on their roof and offering the best, most cost effective solutions.
Brisco Roofing are your roofing experts, with over 20 years of hands on experience you can trust you are in safe hands. From your roof restoration, tiled roof extension, tiled roof repair through to skylight and whirlybird installs we are here to help!
Roof Tiling & Painting
QBCC : 1028776
Proudly servicing the local Brisbane area
